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Chapter III

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"Lift your weapons!" I shouted to them, raising my gloved hands into my usual fighting stance. "Remember, bounce up and down, not forward and back, or your momentum can work against you!"

Twenty SeeD cadets in four wide rows of five brought to bear their tools - fighting gloves like mine, guns, knives, swords, maces, whips, nunchaku, staffs and even a large metal ball to be rolled or tossed at foes. Amazingly enough, it was my job to teach each to use his or her chosen weapon effectively in combat - as varied as their armaments were. This isn't to say I taught them how to use the tools myself - it was up to them and their specialized instructors to teach them that. However, beyond each weapon's individual function, there was little difference in how to enter a fight properly, and win. The common ground included the basics - eyes straight, not too far up or down to miss a part of the opponent moving. Bounce up and down, not back and forth. Both legs sideways for fighting gloves to allow easy foot movement.

"Alright… quick!" I shouted.

My class of twenty all did their 'quick' attacks - fast stabs, jabs, swings of flails and more. It was incredibly simplistic compared to the intensive martial arts training I'd received from my next-door neighbor, a very old fisherman. There were very complicated routines I'd had to learn, reaction training for hours a day, technique specialization… these kids were getting off light. But as arrogant as it sounds, I tried to both simplify and improve upon conventional fight training. I had to leave it up to students to decide what to do in less than conventional situations, which did come up in the field… so even as I tutored them in combat basics, I had to teach them to teach themselves through experience. Having as small an amount of doctrine as possible and as much good theory as I could give them would help. So… KISS. Keep it Simple and Stupid.

"Strong!"

This time, it was other forms of attack. Not a quick jab with a fist or a stab with a blade, but more powerful techniques like slashes and counterpunches. I had to keep everything as simple as this. There were three striking attacks. Just three.

"Hyper!" I roared. Each of the students did something more unique than the basics. I had asked each to work out their strongest attack and let me review them. By now I had each of the cadets doing something on par with what I'd only achieved after becoming full SeeD.

"Huuah!"

Whump!!

There was a loud, dull thud and suddenly a basketball-sized metal dome was sitting in the ground. Everyone stared at it. The student who had dropped his metal ball in mid-attack looked left and right embarrassedly and scratched the side of his head. "Uhh… oops."

I sighed. The boy, Garik, was so unconventional. Who fights with a ball, anyway? "Class dismissed. Homework is to show me this month's copy of Fighting Fanatic. And read it. Remember, next week is the field trip to the beach. That's a weapon to battle monsters there…" I smiled at the class. "And swimsuits."

All of them left my class happy, and talking. I wished I had had this class when I was a cadet… it might have been a course I coulda managed an 'A' in, heh. And if I had had a teacher who told us to bring trunks to class, I would never have skipped a lesson.

In short, I tried to be a good teacher - and according to everyone, I succeeded. I could teach fighting, but now I was going to have to teach something completely different.

Leaving the lawn where I'd created our parade ground for training, I headed directly for the infirmary.

So I gotta teach Rikku what the world's like… I thought to myself, putting my hands in my pockets and thinking about how I was going to do this. God, why me? Squall said it should be me because she already knows me… but even being Mr. Know-It-All Zell isn't going to help if I don't know how to handle this right.

Passing into the infirmary, I heard something rather unexpected.

"Oh, no!"

Dr. Kadowaki sounded panicked. My eyes bugged out and I felt a rush come up. Maybe that girl I'd had so much fun playing with condiments with wasn't so nice, after all. I rushed towards the double doors to the doctor's office and punched the center so that they flew apart and I busted in, ready to fight!

I made an idiot of myself.

***

Zell stood with his fists up, obviously up for a serious battle. He looked so prepped to defend the doctor it was inspiring.

It was also very embarrassing.

"Hi, Zell!" I chirped cheerfully, trying not to make it seem like I was too amused.

I think what tipped him off first wasn't the bemused look on Dr. Kadowaki's face, or my own thinly-veiled mirth, but the cards on the table between us. I guess he knew the card game - Dr. Kadowaki said most people did. It still seemed kind of odd to me that a game could have such wide appeal, but I guess that's why Spira plays Blitzball. In any case, for a bit less than a second he was incredibly heroic looking and dashing. It was really cute… but, then he saw the cards and froze. So, in fact, he was still in the same fighting position, but his eyes were looking dumbly at the card game. This awkwardness lasted a few seconds before he relaxed himself and coughed.

"Uh…" he stared blankly at us, confused. "Umm… who's winning?"

I nearly burst out laughing, but managed to keep it to a wide smile. "Me," I answered. "Quistis leant me the cards."

The doctor nodded. "Yes, she's beating me pretty badly. Only her third try. Your friend's smart."

Zell was blushing a little bit now. "Umm… so I was gonna take you around Garden?"

"Oh yeah!" I stood up, my new shirt and shorts almost uncomfortable on me. I'd never felt a fabric so oddly soft as this 'cotton' stuff… "Um, can we keep the game, doctor?"

"Of course. I want you to come back so we can keep you overnight until we can get you someplace around here."

"Okay!" I jumped up and wrapped my arm around his, quickly turning him around and dragging him out of the little hospital.

"Aren't I supposed to be leading you…?" he asked lamely, very confused.

***

"Oh, wow…" she gasped, looking at Garden as we walked from the Infirmary inward. The terraces and colored tethers that hung about Balamb Garden did look particularly lovely in this nice weather.

"This is Balamb Garden, home of elite mercenary soldiers and peacekeepers called SeeD… uh, that would be someone like me," I indicated myself with my thumb. "We learn and become soldiers in this place. I grew up around here…"

Rikku pulled me sideways and bent her head over the side of one of the walkways, looking at the water below. "You got to grow up in a place like this?" she asked, amazed. "This is a palace!"

I looked over too, then smiled. "… It flies, too, you know."

Rikku just looked at me. "You're kidding…"

I walked her over towards the main entrance. "Down here's where we go in and out of the Garden. There's a road to Balamb… that's where I'm from."

"I've been meaning to ask about that," she looked over at me. "Have you ever heard of a city called Zanarkand? Do you know what Yevon is?"

I blinked. "Nope."

"Uhh, what about Blitzball? Ever play Blitzball?"

I shook my head, hoping this didn't make me an idiot.

"… Sin?"

"What's that?"

She grinned, her eyes lighting up. "Well it's something I don't have to worry about anymore, that's all."

That was when I noticed her eyes. It surprised the hell out of me, of course. She had… no pupils. I didn't say anything, but she noticed easily.

"And you obviously don't know about us Al Bhed, either," she said simply, and rather than be offended she actually offered help with it. "All the babies in my race are born with eyes like me. Most of us have hair like yours and mine, and it's almost always straight. Hmm… and we're the only ones who ever use machines. Although by the looks of things, you do things rather differently wherever I am now…"

"You're on Balamb Island. Um, unless I'm even worse at geography than my teachers said."

"Hmm, never heard of it. I wonder if I'm in the future or the past…" Rikku looked at her wrist like her antique-style watch would help. "But anyway, I don't know that it matters."

"It's not important to you to get home?" Zell asked, leaning backwards against a railing.

"It is, but," Rikku looked straight up at the many stylized skylights of the Garden "But a lot of people spend their whole lives trying to get away from Sin. Sin's a fact where I'm from… but here it's not. I can't just act like that isn't something I have a responsibility to take advantage of."

You know, I didn't understand then. I really didn't know what she was talking about - a responsibility to take advantage of a gift you've gotten… it confused me, actually. Like I said, Selphie was right about me being dense… but even the first time I heard her say it, I decided to keep it with me, come what may. Later on, I'd finally figure out what it meant when it counted…